Month: March 2014

Mental Attitude: Is Stress Contagious?
A new report finds that not only do babies pick up on their mother’s stress but their bodies will also mimic physiological changes. Researchers found that when mothers were stressed and then reunited with their infant, the child quickly adopted his/her mother’s stress response, including a corresponding change in heart rate. Lead author Dr. Sara Waters writes, “Before infants are verbal and able to express themselves fully, we can overlook how exquisitely attuned they are to the emotional tenor of their caregivers… Your infant may not be able to tell you that you seem stressed or ask you what is wrong, but our work shows that, as soon as she is in your arms, she is picking up on the bodily responses accompanying your emotional state and immediately begins to feel in her own body your own negative emotion.”
Psychological Science, February 2014

Health Alert: Buckle Your Children Up!
Tragically, car accidents still claim the lives of over 9,000 American children each year. Researchers working for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) believe that nearly a third of these deaths can be prevented if parents simply secured their children in age/size appropriate car seats. They point out that in states where car seats are required until ages 7-8, more children are put into car and booster seats and serious injury rates are 17% lower than in states without such laws.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, February 2014

Diet: No More Than 2-3 Cups Per Day…
Using current research on the over-consumption of caffeine as a guide, Dr. Laura Juliano, co-author of “Caffeine Use Disorder: A Comprehensive Review and Research Agenda,” recommends healthy adults limit caffeine consumption to no more than two to three cups of coffee per day (about 400 mg/day) and pregnant women to no more than half that amount. She also recommends people with health problems such as anxiety, insomnia, heart problems, or urinary incontinence limit or even eliminate caffeine consumption.
Journal of Caffeine Research, February 2014

Exercise: Sitting and Disability.
For the first time, a study has labeled sedentary activity as a risk factor for disability for people over age 60. Using data on over 2,000 adults over 60 years of age, researchers were shocked to discover that being sedentary is just as large a risk factor for disability as not exercising, and the risk of disability dramatically increases for each additional hour spent sitting at a computer or on the couch watching TV.
Journal of Physical Activity & Health, February 2014

Chiropractic: Acute Low Back Pain Treatment Comparison.
In this study, researchers compared the efficacy of spinal manipulation to diclofenac, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), for the treatment of acute low back pain. Based on outcomes including self-rated physical disability, function, time missed from work, and rescue medication use during the following 12 weeks, spinal manipulation proved to be a significantly better treatment.
Spine, April 2013

Wellness/Prevention: Mammography Recommended for Women in Their 40s.
While the United States Preventive Services Task Force’s 2009 guidelines recommend against routine mammograms for women in their 40s, new research shows that regular screenings would benefit this age group by helping doctors catch the disease when it can still be treated without extensive surgery or chemotherapy. Current statistics show that one in eight women will develop breast cancer, and if the disease is caught early enough, the five-year survival rate is 97%.
American Journal of Roentgenology, February 2014

Evidence from many trials and many research projects clearly demonstrates the superiority of chiropractic services over standard medical care and even traditional physical therapy in the treatment of musculoskeletal conditions:

1972 – Rolland A. Martin, MD, director of Oregon’s Workmen’s Compensation Program, “A Retrospective Study of Comparable Workmen’s Industrial Injuries in Oregon”: “Examining the forms of conservative therapy the majority received, it is interesting to note the results of those treated by chiropractic physicians. … A total of twenty-nine claimants were treated by no other physician than a chiropractor. 82% of those workmen resumed work after one week of time loss. Their claims were closed without a disability award. … Examining claims treated by the M.D., in which the diagnosis seems comparable to the type of injury suffered by the workmen treated by the chiropractor, 41% of these workmen resumed work after one week of time loss.”

1975 – Richard C. Wolf, MD, “A Retrospective Study of 629 Workmen’s Compensation Cases in California”: The significant differences between the two groups appear to be as follows: Average lost time per employee – 32 days in the M.D.-treated group, 15.6 days in the chiropractor-treated group. Employees reporting no lost time – 21% in the M.D.-treated group, 47.9% in the chiropractor-treated group. Employees reporting lost time in excess of 60 days – 13.2% in the M.D.-treated group, 6.7% in the chiropractor-treated group. Employees reporting complete recovery – 34.8[%] in the M.D.-treated group, 51% in the chiropractor-treated group.”

1979 – Scott Haldeman, DC, MD, PhD, Royal Commission of Inquiry on Chiropractic in New Zealand: “The Commission accepts the evidence of Dr. Haldeman, and holds, that in order to acquire a degree of diagnostic and manual skill sufficient to match chiropractic standards, a medical graduate would require up to 12 months’ full-time training, while a physical therapist would require longer than that.”

1980 – John McMilan Mennell, MD, prominent medical educator and author: “Q: The musculoskeletal system comprises what portion of the body? A: As a system, about 60% of the body. I think my testimony was that if you ask a bunch of new residents who come into a hospital for the first time how long they spent in studying the problems of the musculoskeletal system, they would, for the most part reply, ‘Zero to about four hours,’ I think that was my testimony.”

1987 – Susan Getzendanner, United States District Court Judge: “Even the defendants’ [the AMA’s] expert witness, Mr. Lynk [a PhD economist], assumed that chiropractors outperformed medical physicians in the treatment of certain conditions and he believed that was a reasonable assumption.”

1998 – Annals of Internal Medicine, published jointly by the American College of Physicians and the American Society for Internal Medicine: “The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) recently made history when it concluded that spinal manipulative therapy is the most effective and cost-effective treatment for acute low back pain … Perhaps most significantly, the guidelines state that unlike nonsurgical interventions, spinal manipulation offers both pain relief and functional improvement.” [Emphasis added]

1998 – Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery: “Second only to upper respiratory illness, musculoskeletal symptoms are the most common reason that patients seek medical attention, accounting for approximately 20 percent of both primary-care and emergency-room visits. Musculoskeletal problems were reported as the reason for 525 (23 percent) of 2285 visits by patients to a family physician, and musculoskeletal injuries accounted for 1539 (20 percent) of 7840 visits to the emergency room. … Nevertheless, seventy (82 percent) of eighty-five medical school graduates from thirty-seven different schools failed to demonstrate such competency on a validated examination of fundamental concepts.”

2012 – Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery: “In the United States, musculoskeletal disorders represent the most common health complaints, accounting for more than 130 million physician visits and 10% to 28% of all primary care visits each year and costing approximately $850 billion a year. These costs account for a substantial portion of the country’s health care expenditures. … Despite these facts, our own institution [the Johns Hopkins University Medical School] has had no required medical student musculoskeletal clerkship rotation or elective for several decades, and a landmark study in 2003 by DiCaprio et al. found that only 20% of allopathic medical schools in the United States had a dedicated musculoskeletal clerkship, making the quality of musculoskeletal training for medical school graduates inadequate. Clawson et al. surveyed 5487 second-year residents in the United States and found that most reported being ill-prepared in the area of musculoskeletal medicine, and another survey of pediatric residents identified orthopaedics as the main area in which they believed that their medical school education had been deficient. … This discrepancy appears to persist beyond the training years and into the realm of clinical practice. In a survey of family care physicians, 51% said that they had insufficient training to address musculoskeletal issues, which may be related to the fact that 56% of the respondents stated that medical school was their only source for formal musculoskeletal instruction.”

Children have been treated by chiropractors for spinal problems ever since chiropractic was founded in 1895, and neck pain is no exception. Neck pain is surprisingly common in kids, though not quite as common as it is in adults, reaching a similar occurrence rate by age 18. Studies conducted in the United States and in other countries report similar findings, leaving one to conclude there is a high prevalence of neck pain in kids all over the world. There are many causes of neck pain with a few being unique to children and some that could be a warning sign of something dangerous, such as meningitis. But far more commonly, neck pain in kids is NOT dangerous.Let’s take a look!Looking at neck and shoulder pain in high-school-aged students, 931 males between 16 and 19 years of age were surveyed. More than two out of five students (44.3%) had recurrent neck and shoulder pain more than once a week with an overall prevalence of 79.1%. THAT’S A LOT! The study reported the student’s average sitting time was 10.2 hours a day, 59% did NOT sit up straight, and 11.9% reported that they stretched their neck and shoulders regularly throughout the day. Students with recurrent neck and shoulder pain also reported frequent fatigue and depressed moods. Looking specifically at 1,122 backpack-using adolescents, 74.4% were classified as having back or neck pain. When compared to non- or low use backpackers, there was nearly a two times greater likelihood of having back/neck pain! Also, females and those with a large body mass index (overweight) were also significantly associated with back/neck pain. Lastly, they found when compared to adolescents with no back/neck pain, those with pain carried significantly heavier backpacks.Another common cause of neck pain in adolescents is a condition called torticollis or, “wry neck.” This is basically a muscle spasm of certain neck muscles that rotate and extend the head from the neutral / normal position, often described as being “stuck” in this position. Though there are several types of torticollis, it can be triggered by almost anything including a change in weather, sleeping in a draft, following an infection like a cold or flu, maintaining a faulty prolonged posture, certain types of medications, and many others. Some studies describe torticollis as usually improving within one to four weeks, but in the hands of a chiropractor, it usually takes two to three days for the acute pain to subside and one week to completely finish the job! Of course, this varies depending on the case. Infants can be born with “congenital torticollis,” which occurs in 0.3 to 2.0% of newborns. Here too, chiropractic is VERY effective.

We realize you have a choice in whom you consider for your health care provision and we sincerely appreciate your trust in choosing our service for those needs. If you, a friend, or family member requires care for neck pain, we would be honored to render our services.

A Danish study suggests that children of mothers who used acetaminophen during their pregnancy are at greater risk of developing behavioral problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The study involved about 64,000 children and their mothers and revealed that about 50% of mothers used acetaminophen during their pregnancy. Children of those mothers were more likely to be diagnosed with ADHD-like behaviors at age seven and more likely to use medications for the disorder. The authors of the study note that further research is needed to determine the association.
JAMA Pediatrics, February 2014

Fitness experts and researchers alike have long wondered whether the order of a workout routine matters when it comes to attaining maximum results. New information from an all-male participant study indicates that after six months, both groups (resistance first vs. cardio first) achieved statistically similar outcomes in physical performance and muscle development.
European Journal of Applied Physiology, April 2014

Low back pain (LBP) is such a common problem that if you haven’t suffered from it yet, you probably will eventually. Here are a few facts to consider: 1) LBP affects men and women equally; 2) It is most common between ages 30-50; 3) Sedentary (non-active) lifestyles contribute a lot to causation; 4) Too much or too little exercise can result in LBP; 5) A BMI around 25 is “ideal” for weight management, which helps prevent LBP; 6) Causes of LBP include lifestyle (activity level), genetics – including, but not limited to, weight and osteoarthritis; 7) Occupation; 8) Exercise habits, and the list can go on and on. Let’s next look at how an adjustment is done.

When spinal manipulation is performed in the low-back region, the patient is often placed in a side lying position with the upper leg flexed towards the chest and the bottom leg kept straight. The bottom shoulder is pulled forwards and the upper shoulder is rotated backwards at the same time the low back area receives that the manipulation is rotated forwards. This produces a twisting type of motion that is well within the normal range of joint motion. When the adjustment is made, a “high velocity” (or quick), “low amplitude” (a short distance of movement) thrust is delivered often resulting in “cavitation” (the crack or, release of gases). So, WHY do we do this?

Most studies show that when there is back pain, there is inflammation. In fact, inflammation is found in most disease processes that occur both within and outside the musculoskeletal system. We know that when we control inflammation, pain usually subsides. That is why the use of “PRICE” (Protect, Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate) works well for most muscle/joint painful conditions. We have also learned that IF we can avoid cortisone and non-steroidal drugs (like aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen, etc.), tissues heal quicker and better, so these SHOULD BE AVOIDED! If you didn’t know that, check out: http://www.benthamscience.com/open/torehj/articles/V006/1TOREHJ.pdf

Please see our prior discussions on the use of anti-inflammatory herbs and diets that are MUCH safer than non-steroidal drugs! But what does spinal manipulation DO in reference to inflammation?

Different things occur physiologically during a spinal adjustment or manipulation. We know that the mechanical receptors located in muscles, muscle tendons, ligaments, and joint capsules are stimulated and this results in muscle relaxation (reduced spasm or tightness), increased measurable range of motion, and a decrease in pain. A recent study also reported that inflammatory markers (CRP and interleukin-6) measured in a blood test, NORMALIZED after a series of nine chiropractic low back manipulations! So, NOT ONLY do spinal adjustments give immediate improvements in pain, flexibility, and muscle relaxation, they also REDUCE INFLAMMATION without the use of any pharmaceuticals!

So, let’s review what manipulation does for your low back pain: 1) Pain reduction; 2) Improved flexibility – now you can put on your socks with less pain and strain; 3) Improved functions and activities of daily living like sitting more comfortably, getting in or out of your car, bending over to feed the cat, etc.; 4) Improved sleep quality; and 5) Faster healing time by actually reducing the inflammatory markers in the blood! If you have LBP, PLEASE don’t delay – make that appointment TODAY!

We realize you have a choice in whom you consider for your health care provision and we sincerely appreciate your trust in choosing our service for those needs. If you, a friend, or family member requires care for back pain, we would be honored to render our services.

Swedish researchers found that consuming greater amounts of saturated fat increases the amount of fat tissue present around the abdomen and internal organs, a risk factor for developing type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes, February 2014

In 2007, the American College of Physicians and the American Pain Society included spinal manipulation in their guidelines as one of several treatment options for practitioners to consider when low-back pain does not improve with self-care.
Annals of Internal Medicine, July 2007

A team of 23 volunteers agreed to eat 500 grams of strawberries (about 30 large strawberries) every day for over a month. Before and after blood samples showed that consuming strawberries led to lower levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol while levels of HDL (good) cholesterol remained unchanged.
The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, March 2014

New research links high stress levels to increased headache occurrence. This study involved 5,159 people who were questioned about their headaches and stress four times a year over a two-year period. The researchers found that for each headache type (tension, migraine, and combined), the more stress a person experienced, the more headaches they suffered each month. Researcher Dr. Sara H. Schramm writes, “The results add weight to the concept that stress can be a factor contributing to the onset of headache disorders, that it accelerates the progression to chronic headache, exacerbates headache episodes, and that the headache experience itself can serve as a stressor.”
The American Academy of Neurology, February 2014

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